Electric toaster



Dec. 4,1923. 1,476,129

L. H. WILKINSON ELECTRIC TOASTER Filed Feb. 1, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 314 08 wfoc A .H l l/lL lf/A/SO/V.

Patented Dec. 4, 1923.

UNITE STAES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS H. WILKINSON, F M-ERIDEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO MANNING, BOW- MAN & COMPANY, OF MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

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Application filed February 1, 1923. Serial No. 616,246.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OUIS H. WILKINSON,

a citizen of the Unite States, residing at Meriden, county of New Haven, State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electric Toasters,

of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to electric toasters 0 and has for its object to provide a new and improved toaster having one or more reversible slice holders and a new and improved means for opening and closing said holders. It further has for its object to 6 provide a holder which can be opened from each side. It further has for its object to provide a holder having doors each of which when on the outer side of the holder is hinged at its lower edge and further to pro- 50 vide such a door with means for retaining it in open position, which permits the door to be closed automatically as the holder is reversed. It further has for its. object to provide new and improved ard wires cooperating with the reversi le holder. It further has for its object to provide a holder with opening means which readily become cooled and do not interfere with the reversal of the holder or the operation of the toaster.

The following is a description of an embodiment of my invention, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, in which, I

Fig. 1 shows a side elevation of embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a section of the same on the line 2-2, Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is an and elevation with parts shown broken away.

-Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 is a base having side frame members 2 connected by a top plate 3. To the lower portions of the frame members an inverted trough 4 is secured by screws 5 and to their upper portions a plate 6 is secured by screws 7. The trou h 4 and plate 6 are provided with insulated hooks 8 and 9 upon which the heating element 10 is supported in the usual manner. The plate 6 and trou h 4 are provided with perforations 11 an 12 through which hair-pin wires 13 pass, the planes of the loops of these wires being transverse to the axis of the toaster. These wires are proa toaster vided with bent portions 1480 as to bring them out of the way of the doors of the bread holders hereinafter referred to, and, on account of the symmetrical relation of these bends in the two legs of the guard wires, these bends will be correctly positioned whenever the wires are inserted.

The hair-pin wires above referred to pass through the perforations in the upper plates and trough before the top member 3 is secured in place by the screws 7 and the top member 3 is so spaced that when it is secured in place it prevents the upward movement of the guard wires sufficient to withdraw the lower ends from the holes in the inverted trough 4.

15 are the slice holders, the same consisting of oblong sheet metal frames having the central points of their sides pivoted to the upwardly'extending armsof yokes 16 and provided with knobs 17 whereby the slice holders can be actuated. The yokes 16 are soldered or welded to the upper sides of shafts 18 and are normally held in upright position by a spring 19 which surrounds the shaft 18 and one end of which bears against the lower portion of the yoke 16 while the other bears against and enters a perforation in the trough 4. y

In order to open and close the toast holder I provide each side thereof with a wire door 21, shown in closed positionat the left of Fig. 2, and in open position at the right of Fig. 2. This wire door has at its bottom a shaft or bearing 22 which passes through the lower outer corners of the upright members of the frame 15 being mounted so as to turn therein. The door is made up of vertical wires 23 and transverse wires 24, one of the vertical wires 23 having an outwardly curved portion 25 which serves as a handle for opening the door.

Carried by the frame 15 are sprin detents 26 for the respective doors. These spring detents are preferably each made from a separate piece of wire which surrounds the pivot of the frame'15 between the fra-me and the arms 16 and is held by a lug 27 formed thereon. The detents have hooks 28 which limit the outward movement of the door by engaging the lower horizontal wire 24 thereof. They are also provided at 29 with inner cam surfaces so that whedthe door is opened the hooks F fications without yield. They are further provided at 30 with cam surfaces so that when closing pressure is applied to' an open door the hooks yield and permit an initial closing movement of the door, after which, the spring detents cause the door to complete its closin movement and when closed hold it in close position. When a door is in the closed position as shown in Fig. 2, its exposed handle 25 can be grasped and the door pulled open to the position shown at the right-of Fig. 2, in which position it will be detained by the detent until it receives an initial closing movement. This initial closing movement can be caused by direct manual pressure upon the door or the handle 25, or it can be brought about by turning one of the knobs 17 so as to reverse the toaster 'by an outward and downward movement,= which action will automatically bring the door against the lower portion of the toaster frame so as to produce the initial closing movement. If the door is closed by the downward turning movement of the frame, a slice of toast within the holder usually falls from the frame 15 upon the open door, as indicated in Fig. 3, and upon the further -movement of the frame is ejected upon the table or tray provided. The toast, therefore, can be removed from the toaster without being touched by the hand. When the frame has been revolved and released, it assumes the position shown at the left of Fig. 2 on account of the action of the spring 1'9. It is to be noted that when the second face of a piece of'bread has been toasted and it is desired'to open the door of the holder containing it, the handle 25 having been separated from the heating lement for some time by the interposition of a piece of toast,

when desired and when opened will auto-- matically be retained in open position and may be either closed by direct manual manipulation or by the reversal of the holder. 31 are terminals for the ordinary plug for connecting the toaster to the circuit.

As will be evident to those skilled in the art, my invention ermits of various modieparting from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claims.

What 1 claim is: l. lln an electric toaster, the combination of a frame having a heating. element, yoke pivoted .thereto, a slice holder frame said heating element nee/ease having its side members centrally pivoted to the arms of saidyoke so as to be reversible relatively to said heating element, said yok tending to move toward the lane of said heating element, symmetrical oors each hinged at one edge to said sliceholdor frame, the hinges of the two doors being symmetrical with relation to the axis of the pivots of said slice holder, and means tending to hold said doors in closed position.

2. In an electric'toaster, the combination of a frame having a heating element, a yoke pivoted thereto, a slice holder frame having its side members centrally pivoted to the arms of said yoke so as to be reversible relatively to said heating element, said yoke tending to move toward the plane of symmetrical [doors each hinged at one edge to said slice holder frame,- the hinges of the two-doors being 1 symmetrical with relation to the axis 6f the pivots of said slice holder, and means tending to hold said doors in closed position, said means consisting of cam-bearing detents holding said doors in open position and permitting said doors to be moved toward closed position.

3. In an electric toaster, a frame having a heating element disposed in a longitudinally' extending plane, a reversible slice holder frame parallel to said heatin element, a door on the outer side thereo having its'lower edge pivotally connected to said slice holder frame, and means for normally holding said door inclosed position and acting after said door has been opened to a predetermined point to hold it in open position.

4. In an electric toaster, a frame having a heating element. disposed in a longitudinally extending plane, a slicel holder frame, a door on the outer side thereof having its lower edge pivotally connected to said slice holder frame, and means for normally holdin said doorin closed position and acting a r said door has been opened to a predetermined point to hold it in 0 en position and to close said door after an initial closing movement, said slice holder frame being reversible about a horizontal axis so as to present either side to the heating element.

5. In an electric toaster, a frame having a heating element disposed in a lontudinally extending plane, a slice hol frame, a door on the outer side thereof having its lower edge pivotally connected to said slice holder frame, and means for nor- 1 axis so as to present either side to the heatframe, a door on the outer side thereof having its lower edge pivotally connected to said slice holder frame, means for normally holdin said door in closed position and acting a er said door has been opened to a predeterminedpoint'to hold it in open position and to close said door after an initial closing movement, said slice holder frame bein reversible about a horizontal axis, said oor, when open, being adopted to engage the toaster frame during such rotation so as to have an initial closing movement imparted thereto, and a spring actuating said yoke so as to move it toward said heating element and complete the turning movement of said holder.

7. In an electric toaster, a toaster frame carrying a heating element supported thereby in 8. Ion itudinally extending plane, hair-pin guar wires carried by said frame and extending continuously from one side to the other of said plane and upso per and lower plates carried by said frame having holes through whichthe legs of said guard wires extend.

8. In an electric toaster, a toaster frame carrying a heating element supported thereby in a longitudinally extending plane, guard wires carried by said frame and extending continuously from one side to the other of said plane, said guard wires being connected at their upper ends, and upper and lower plates carriedv by said frame having holes through which the guard wires extend, saidframe having a topmember overlying 'the upper ends of two'of said wires so as to-prevent the removal of said wires from said holes.

9. In an electric toaster, a toaster frame carrying a heating element supported thereby in a longitudinally extending plane, hair-pin guard Wires carried by said frame and extending continuously from one side to the other of said plane and upper and lower plates carried by said frame having holes through which the le s of said guard wires extend, the arms 0 said guard wires being bent and lying in the same plane and symmetrical to the longitudinally extending plane of said heating element.

LOUIS H. WILKINSON. 

